Helping residents get their recycling sorted

The City of Canning will commence the next round of bin tagging on 17 February, with the aim of educating residents on how to correctly sort their waste and support positive recycling behaviours.

The eight-week program will include around 2200 homes in Canning in 11 zones across Queens Park, St James, Bentley, Ferndale, Willetton, Canning Vale, Cannington, Rossmoyne, Shelley, Parkwood and Riverton.

Each fortnight waste education officers will look inside kerbside bins, in the selected areas, and provide feedback in the form of a happy or sad face tag, to help residents make sure they are using the bins correctly.

Happy tags will be placed on recycling bins with very low contamination or no contamination.

City of Canning Mayor Patrick Hall said the program plays an important role in helping to educate the community on positive recycling behaviours.

“Bin tagging focuses on educating residents to put the right thing in the right bin. Each fortnight, residents participating in the program, will receive personalised feedback to help improve their waste sorting.

“Positively, the last round of bin tagging saw significant improvement in waste sorting behaviour. At the start of the program 57% of bins received a happy tag, and this increased to 73% by the end of the eight-week program.

“Educating residents on how to recycle correctly is extremely important as it helps support sustainability and increase resource recovery, and means lower fees for the City,” Mayor Hall said.

When recycling residents should make sure all items are loose, as bagged items can’t be recycled, ensure all recyclables are empty and rinsed to reduce contamination, and all lids are removed from bottles and containers.

For an A-Z recycling guide, visit www.recycleright.wa.gov.au or download their app. To receive a free recycling sticker for the lid of your recycling bin, please email City of Canning at waste@canning.wa.gov.au.

The City also has waste sorting information in 18 different languages available online, for more information please go to www.canning.wa.gov.au/recycling.

This project is supported by the Government of Western Australia and administered by the Waste Authority. The WA Local Government Association manages the WasteSorted Bin Tagging Program and works with Local Governments to deliver the project outcomes.